NEW MATERIAL FROM VEDDER AND PEARL JAM

If, like me, you found Eddie Vedder’s soundtrack of original solo material to be one of the only redeeming aspects of Sean Penn’s pretentious, intelligence-insulting, and drawn-out Into The Wild, then I’ve got some good news for you. Vedder’s new solo album Ukulele Songs is due out in June, and he’s released his first single, “Longing To Belong”. Not surprisingly, it’s a ukulele song, but it is beautiful.

“We did a whole bunch of demos and everybody’s got a disc of 25 [songs] right now,” he said. “April will be the time where we get together and learn to play all these demos and figure out which 12 to 15 of them float to the top. Hopefully we can get something done this year. […] There’s been so much focus on the past that I think all of us are really excited to make a new record,” he said. “And have something to look forward to because we’ve been digging in the boxes in our basement a lot the last year or so.” [Editor’s Note: He’s referring to the recent re-issues of their early albums and the production of the upcoming Cameron Crowe documentary] [Billboard via NME]

Within the Vedder article, I found links to two unreleased Pearl Jam songs from last summer that are well worth a listen if you’re a fan and may or may not be two of those 25 on the table for the new record. Here(and with video after the cut) is the throat-puncher, and here’s their subsequent, sweet “sorry about melting your face” apology letter to you.